Episode 38: Loic Lopez

Today’s guest Life Athlete is Loic Lopez. I heard of Loic before I met him. People were talking about the guy who traveled from the UK to Bali without flying because his son had wanted to spend a year at Green School and neither of them wanted to impact their carbon footprints through air travel. turns out that adventure was just the tip of the iceberg for this story.

Habit of Action:

“I think the body needs regularity. Sleeping, eating, exercising.”

Habit of Thought:

“Thinking we don’t.”

Contentment is not conditional, happiness is.

Greatest area of strength:

I like talking

Training for this area:

You need flow and we can all access this.

Go through small talk but quickly go deep if the other person is open to it.

Book:

Zan Habits – Leo Babuta

Mastery – Robert Greene
Web Resource:

Zen Habits

Krishnamurti

Contact:

LoicLopez.com

Zenplan

Weaving the Green Dream

Episode 37: Tijana Momirov

Today’s guest Life Athlete is Tijana Momirov. Tijana has been a digital nomad for years. Her brand follow the elements isliterally how she lives her life.  She’s a windsurfing, kite surfing, computer programming, people inspiring, fancy dress wearing, dynamo who is set to host a co-working, co-adventuring, co-living retreat in Brazil.

Habit of Thought:

Focus on the moment. Always remember that life is a journey not a destination.

Habit of Action:

Have a structured life where you follow certain patterns wherever you go. This will allow you to be productive and to feel at home wherever you happen to be.

Greatest area of strength:

Intuitive, energetic. At the same time, very rational.

Training for this area:

Relax, open up and think about something that you would love to have your life. Make a rational, logical, practical plan for how to get it.

Quotation:

“Good is the enemy of Great” – Jim Collins

Book:

My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey – Jill Bolte Taylor

My Stroke of Insight – TED

Web Resource:

“have smart friends who recommend things”

Contact:

Follow the Elements – Facebook

Episode 36: Rodolfo Young

Today’s guest Life Athlete is Rodolfo Young. Rodolfo is and has done many things. Among them, he spent a year in silence to recover from heart ache. He gives heart talks around the world, wherever he goes. He has given a TEDx talk on holding space and he gives hugs that people go out of their way for.  He also has a lovely speaking voice. Enjoy!

Habit of Thought:

“can I in ever moment, be open to being surprised? it keeps me fluidly experiencing my life”

Habit of Action:

“Once I have clarity, I take the action”

Greatest area of strength:

Being present with people.

 

Training for this area:

Accept what is as what is.

Book:
The Power of now.

Chrishna Murti

biographies

Who are you? – Rodolfo Young

Web Resource:

Rodolfo Young TEDx

Contact:

Facebook – Rodolfo Young

RodolfoqYoung.com

Episode 35: Melanie LeMay

Today’s guest Life Athlete is Melanie LeMay. Melanie lives the talk. She’s accepted the mantle of muse of happiness with… well with happiness. She’s has developed her own massage style called Meyobay, after years of practice and is set to host a retreat in Hawaii where she’ll train experienced massage therapists in this style.

Habit of Thought:

Be Present. Life it up. See the beauty that is everywhere.

Habit of Action:

Choose your thoughts. Find Beauty. Give yourself reminders. Take time to be consciously grateful.

Greatest area of strength:

To be comfortable and at ease in any situation.

Training for this area:

Let go of judgements and leave space for compassion.

Book:

The “fuck it” therapy –

The four agreements

The four hour work week
Web Resource:

Totally unique thoughts

Notes from the Universe – Thoughts become things

The Elephant Journal

http://www.museofhappiness.com

http://meyobay.massagetherapy.com

Episode 34: Chris Duncan

Habit of Thought:

“I’m a champion because champions keep on winning… A winner can win once but a champion keeps on winning.”

 

-have a morning ‘rich-ual’

Momentum club. pointbeducation.com

Habit of Action:

Don’t set a goal you don’t achieve.

Achieve every goal you set.

Greatest area of strength:

Determination.

Training for this area:

Don’t dabble. Commit all the way.

Have a mentor.

(“A good mentor can demonstrate that they have what you want to learn from them. They have a replicable system. They can do it right now… their skills aren’t based in old paradigms.”)

Book:

The seven habits of highly effective people – Steven Covey
The freedom business blueprint – Chris Duncan (Coming out mid July 2015)
Web Resource:

Tim Ferris

Michael Jordan – Failure commercial. 

Contact:

To enter for a chance to have Chris build you a freedom business that will make you $10,000 in a day: http://tinyurl.com/pv5g2xf 

Bonus Episode: Les Leventhal

Sometimes a guest and I will talk at length before or after an interview and the resulting conversation is something I want to share with you. Life Athletes, welcome to this bonus episode of the Life Athletics Podcast.

Life Athletes, welcome to a bonus episode of the Life Athletics Podcast. Les Leventhal is a fantastic yoga teacher and an even better person. He’s famouslybeen through the fire and emerged on the other side. His story is an inspiration that proves that people can overcome their past and create an inspiring future for themselves. This conversation was recorded right after the formal interview that was featured inepisode 6 of the Life Athletics podcast.

Episode 33: Michael McCastle

Today’s guest Life Athlete is Michael McCastle. Mike is an air traffic controller for the us navy by day and a marvel of human will and herculean physical effort by night. He has taken on 12 increasingly difficult labours to bring attention to various charities. among his feats, he Flipped a 250-Pound Tire for 13 Miles and for an encore he spent 27 hours climbing a rope the equivalent hight of Everest. “Anything worth having isn’t going to be easy. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.”

“It’s better to choke on greatness than to nibble on mediocrity.”

Habit of Thought:

“A habit that I have is maintaining an inner dialogue that is positive and doesn’t let me just go for the easy way. I kind of lean towards the harder way of things because I know that through that harder lesson I’m going to grow more, I’m going to learn more. I might not want to wake up at four in the morning to work out but I know that by starting my day off by doing something that I don’t necessarily like, the rest of the day is going to be that much easier to conquer.”

“Anything worth having isn’t going to be easy. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.”

“It’s better to choke on greatness than to nibble on mediocrity.”

Habit of Action:“A habit of action that I have is that I refuse to let my failures define me. I never really get things right the first time. It takes me several times to achieve things. Each time I fail I don’t let it set me back. I don’t allow it to define my future performance. I actually use failure as a tool. That allows me to learn more and grow as a person.”

Greatest area of strength: “I think that my greatest strength comes from my mind and my ability to overcome those mental blocks, those mental walls, those obstacles. When I hit those mental walls, when something challenging or difficult comes up, it’s not a question of ‘man this really sucks, I wish I was doing something else’, it’s a matter of ‘okay, how am I going to get over this wall, how am I going to get past it?’ I’m able to overcome pain and struggle very well.” Training for this area:

“The first thing I’d tell someone is to have a goal… something you’re looking to achieve and to take value from the small victories. have a plan for how you’re going to get there.”

Book:
Web Resource:

http://www.twelvelaborsproject.com

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org

https://www.michaeljfox.org

Episode 32: Charissa Monique

Today’s guest Life Athlete is Charissa Monique. Charissa wants you to know that you’re the creator of your own reality and to add some beauty and passion to it! she’s a biosciences engineer by training a model, traveller, dancer, walking inspiration and muse by choice. She encourages all to live a life beyond normal and then to take a step or two past that. We got together at her villa in Bali for this conversation.

Episode 31: Maria Farrugia

Today’s guest Life Athlete is Maria Farrugia. Maria is the co-founder of the Kul Kul farm, a sustainable and organic teaching, learning and living farm in Bali, Indonesia minutes from Green School. We met for this conversation right on the farm, a space that is growing in every sense of the word at a rapid rate.

Habit of Thought:

“My happiness depends on me. My success depends on me.”

Habit of Action:
“Not thinking. Just going out and doing it.”

Greatest area of strength:

Being really empathetic with people and seeing people.

 

Training for this area:

Book:
Holy Shit: Managing Manure to Save Mankind – Gene Logsdon

Greenhorns: 50 Dispatches from the New Farmers’ Movement – Zoe Ida Bradbury

Wayne Dyer

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose – Eckhart Tolle
Web Resource:

www.kulkulfarm.com

Contact:

http://kulkulfarmbali.com/contact/

Episode 30: Jelena and Masa Avramović

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Jelena – Chief Enlightening officer – the wise elder of the team

Masa – Chief Manifesting Officer

Today we have not one but two guest LifeAthlete’s on the show, Jelena and Masa Avramović, sisters who have jointly founded Yoga Soda, a kambucha beverage company, based out of Toronto Canada. In one busy year they have taken the company from concept to launch and they share their journey with us here. Enjoy!

Habit of Thought:

Jelena: “When I fall myself falling into negative patterns of thought I’m able to step back from it, realize that I’m not manifesting what I want to be manifesting and just switch from there.”

Masa: Mantras and affirmations help in manifesting if you know exactly what you want.

Habit of Action:

Jelena: Meditation

Masa: Meditation

 

Greatest area of strength:

Jelena: One of my key strengths is always persistence. Even if I didn’t get things right away… I know that failure is inevitable… I’m willing to fail again and again to eventually get there.

Masa: I make people feel welcome and comfortable. I’m able to bridge people together.

Training for this area:

Jelena: You need to start visualizing yourself being persistent. and then you have to have some sort of strategy to see it come to life.

Masha: It would begin by breathing, going inward, making sure that you feel comfortable first. Yielding to the situation and not trying to control it… allowing it and feeling through the discomfort of it… so you can eventually shift the space.

 

Book:

Crazy Sexy Diet: Eat Your Veggies, Ignite Your Spark, And Live Like You Mean It! – Kris Carr

Web Resource:

Les Brown

Bob Proctor

Tony Robbins

Think and Grow Rich

Contact:

YogaSoda – Contact

Episode 29.2: Vanessa Fung – the follow-up

This is a follow up to an interview we did in advance of Vanessa’s participation in the Crossfit Pacific Regionals (click here for part 1). In this episode we talk about how she did and how she felt about how she did. As fate would have it Vanessa was in Bali to be the guest coach at S2S Crossfit in Kuta, about an hour away from where I was in Ubud.  We did the interview in a little cafe that wasn’t as quiet as we’d hoped but still, it was great to reconnect and hear about her experience.

Episode 29.1: Vanessa Fung

Vanessa is a Crossfit trainer and athlete living in in Shanghai who has competed at the regional level for the last 5 years. She had been a high school teacher moonlighting as an athlete until this year when she committed to the sport full time. We spoke in advance of her participation in this year’s CrossFit pacific regionals in Australia.

Habit of Thought:

It is better on the other side… nothing bad lasts… suck it up and move.

Grind through. If you don’t struggle, you’re not going to get better.

Habit of Action:
Do it. Do it fully. Go get what you want. Take action.

Greatest area of strength:
Disciplined.

Training for this area:

I’m going to do what I can to challenge their current state of mind, but in the end it’s them. 

Book:
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
Web Resource:

 http://www.elephantjournal.com
Contact:
Facebook – 
Vanessa Fung

Instagram – Charliethephone

Photo credit: 

Rasmus Daniel Taun

Episode 28: Jonathan M. Keim

Jonathan M. Keim is the founder of Kokolato a raw coconut cream based ice cream brand that is set to expand from Bali to North America, promptly.  Before I met Johnathan, I heard people raving about the product. It’s delicious and it’s based on a philosophy of fun and freedom that most people will be able to get behind. We did the interview on johnathan’s balcony overlooking a gorgeous rice field.

Habit of Thought:

  • “I always have to be surrounded by beauty. I don’t really give that up.”

– “I always remind myself why I’m here and why I’m doing what I’m doing”

Habit of Action:
– 
Making it happen.
– Lots of action in interaction.

Greatest area of strength: 

“My ability to create a space for people to open up and feel comfortable”
Training for this area:

– “I would explore with them what it was that made them the most uncomfortable and I would make a mission with them to go out and to make it comfortable. ”

Book:

The Charge: Activating the 10 Human Drives That Make You Feel Alive – Brendon Burchard

Awaken the Giant Within – Tony Robbins

The Power of Now – Eckhart Tolle

Web Resource:

– add a lot of inspiring people to your facebook list and then scroll through their posts.

Contact:

Kokolato.com

Episode 27: Catherine Newton

Catherine is inspired to help people transform from where they are to where they want to be. She travels the world living full out and then bringing that energy to the people around her.

Habit of Thought:

“I have a waking thought that I habitually say to myself and it has taken me through my greatest times and my darkest times… I wonder what miracle awaits me today?”

Habit of Action:

“3, 2, 1 concept.”

3 – Every day I’m going to make three points of contact with clients. Me reaching out to them.

2 –  I go to AT LEAST two networking events every month.

1 – I take at least 1 successful person out for lunch a month. I make it all about them and learn what I can while having a good time.

Greatest area of strength: 

I love to speak and I love to train.
Training for this area:
Take personal responsibility. Listen to yourself and then trust.

Book:

The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure – James Redfield

Web Resource:

http://catherinenewton.com

Contact:

http://catherinenewton.com

Episode 26: Marcus Smith

Marcus is the owner and founder of inner fight a whole human training facility and philosophy based in Dubai UAE. He’s an ex professional rugby player who tests his own limits regularly so that he can test those of the people who come to him to get stronger. Recently he ran 250k through the sahara for the Marathon Des Sable we spoke about this and other experiences in this conversation.

Habit of Thought:

“The habit of thought is really the key…You wake up in the morning and you have a choice. You control the day, the day doesn’t control you.”

Habit of Action:
“Doing what you’re thinking, which is tied into your goals, which is tied into your vision”

-Be positive about what you’re doing and follow through.

Greatest area of strength:
“I always train my mind to be in the right way”
Nik’s take:
Building community

Marcus’s response to Nik’s take:

The environment is key. “I wanted to make something that makes humans better the moment that they walk through the door.”
How would you train someone to create a powerful environment?
Ask yourself: “Who are you?”

Know yourself and then know your needs.

Book:
Read sports books and memoirs. 
Web Resource:

Rob Orlando – Hybrid Athletics

Crossfit New Zealand

Innerfight.com

Contact:

winning@innerfight.com

Episode 25: Gracie Goad

Gracie is a manager at the Historic Drake hotel. She has recently been named to the Ontario Culinary tourism alliance’s top 30 under 30 because of her passion for the industry her commitment to excellence and her ability to get things done. She’s a powerhouse who just happens to look like she’s 12 a fact I can tease her about because she’s my little cousin and I love her to bits.

Habit of Thought:

What can I do to make this situation better?

Habit of Action:
Take action that would make a situation better!

Greatest area of strength: 

“I get shit done”
“I follow up and follow through”

Training for this area:

Make lists, be efficient, do a couple of things at a time and most of all, be clear on what you’re doing so you only have to do a thing once.

Book:

Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business – Danny Meyer

Web resource:

http://buddhify.com

http://www.calm.com

Contact:
Linkedin – Gracie Goad

Episode 24: Janine Newberry

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Habit of Thought:

Asking herself what she’d really love in any moment.

Habit of Action:
Once clear on where she’d love to go or what she’d love to do, Janine takes action.

Greatest area of strength: 

Fearless.

Able to look at the truth of a situation so as to evaporate fear.

Getting people to take action.

Skipping the comfortable and just going for what they really want.

Training for this area:

“It’s about confidence and a belief in themselves. That’s built by taking action.”

Book:

Daring Greatly – Brene Brown

Playing Big – Tara Mohr

Web resource:

www.Janinenewberry.com

Tribe wanted

The Art of Adventure

www.TED.Com

Lewis Howes

Marie Forleo

Contact:

www.Janinenewberry.com

Episode 23: Chris Gentry

Chris has spent his life working to make the people around him greater. He was a director of Outward Bound and founded Asia Works. Now he lives in Bali where we met for this conversation.

 

Habit of Thought:


Personal creed –
“The quality of my life has everything to do with the quality of the people around me”

Habit of Action:
“Fail forward”

Greatest area of strength: 

“I have an ability to speak and enroll people in what I’m speaking about. People can get excited about it. So, how many people are following me in my parade. Enrollment.”

Training for this area:

Know what your ‘stuff’ is, don’t let it get in the way and actually engage with people.

Book:

Island – Aldous Huxley

Virginia Satir

Martin Heidegger

Richard Bandler and John Grinder – Frogs into Princes

Contact:

Gentrybsb@yahoo.com 

Episode 22: Catherine Smith

Catherine Smith is a laughing, crashing, ball of energy who lives to inspire others to live the lives they want sooner, not later.
Habit of Thought:

Sooner, not later.

Habit of Action:

No electronics in the morning. Instead take time to get present and meditate.

Nik’s habit: 
Pat yourself on the back and celebrate the little victories.

Greatest area of strength: 

The ability to talk to anyone and be comfortable in her own skin.

Training for this area:

“I’d really encourage them to push themselves outside of their comfort zone.”

Be alone or go talk to a group of strangers.

Book:

The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho

Web resource:

Painted Picture
Sooner not Later
Live your list

Contact:

Twitter – @SNL_catherine

Catherine@soonernotlater.com

Words of wisdom: Listen after the end credits to hear the words of wisdom that Catherine teased at during the show.

Episode 21: Andrew Krause

Andrew is a good friend who exudes a wisdom and calm that caused mutual friends to request this interview not knowing that he was always on my list. He is a strong advocate for full person health and he brings that to his Naturopathic practice in Kitchener Ontario where he was for this conversation. Enjoy.

Habit of Thought:

Look for the silver lining or positive angle and look for that quickly.

Habit of Action:

Imbed activity into life.

Greatest area of strength: 

Confident speaker and very social.

Great at developing relationships.

Training for this area:

Get yourself out there and practice.

“It’s hard to practice relationships when you’re home alone.”

Book:

Mindset – Carol Dweck

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard – Chip Heath

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness – Richard H. Thaler

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion – Robert B. Cialdini

Web resource:

http://fizzle.co

Contact:

Twitter: krausehealth

www.krausehealthsolutions.com